10. Why Wine Pros Need a Sensory Language Playbook and How to Create One

Isabelle Lesschaeve Author

Enhance communication and staff training with an internal wine sensory language proper to your wine business. Gain clarity, minimize costly mistakes.

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Welcome to Episode 10 of We Taste Wine Differently with your host, Isabelle Lesschaeve—wine sensory scientist, educator, and tasting coach. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone in the wine industry who wants to go beyond technical jargon to describe wine "taste" by adopting an internal sensory language for clear and effective wine communication.

Have you ever argued with colleagues about what "minerality" really means, or gotten frustrated by the mystical jargon in tasting notes? 

You’re not alone! 

Isabelle explores why many professionals struggle to describe aromas and flavors consistently, and why this gap is hindering your team—and your communication with consumers.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why most of us have a limited "sensory vocabulary" (hint: nobody taught us as kids!)
  
• The huge pitfalls of using vague or overly technical tasting language—complete with real-life stories (including a near-million-dollar mistake!)
  
• The essential role of a defined internal sensory language for wine businesses, from onboarding staff to working with suppliers and customers
  
• A step-by-step guide to building your own internal aroma language, including creating definitions, examples, and conducting sensory training
  
• How a common sensory language transforms everything from team cohesion to marketing and storytelling—making wine less intimidating for everyone

Whether you’re a winemaker, marketer, tasting room manager, or passionate wine enthusiast, this episode gives you actionable steps (and plenty of encouragement) to build confidence in your own sensory perceptions—and to help your team do the same.

Key Takeaways:

• Clear sensory language saves time, money, and stress during tastings and the decision-making process.
  
• Training your nose is like learning a new language: practice makes perfect!
  
• Simple, shared definitions (not technical jargon) are your best secret weapon.
  
• Demystifying wine language helps everyone—consumers included—enjoy wine more.
  

Ready to create a sensory language that works for your business and your customers? 

Isabelle shares her six-step process and offers practical tips you can use right away. 

Plus, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, she invites you to book a 15-minute call to discuss your project.

Links shared in this episode.

Sign up for the upcoming Masterclass: Awaken Your Sense of Smell.
Discover how to develop your wine palate without spending hours in textbooks or breaking the bank.

Schedule a free 15-minute call to discuss your sensory language project.

Connect with Isabelle:

• Learn more about working with me on my website https://www.innovinum.com/
• Connect with me on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/isabellelesschaeve
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel http://youtube.com/@innovinumacademy
• Leave Isabelle a message https://www.innovinum.com/contact

We Taste Wine Differently is your go-to podcast to make wine approachable, fun, and scientifically sound—no intimidation required. Trust your senses!

Transcript

[00:00:00] Isabelle Lesschaeve: We use words to communicate and what a waste of time if we don't have clear communication, spending this time, this valuable time arguing with each other about what we mean when we taste a wine.

So really what you need as a professional is an internal sensory language., Like you have a code of conduct or an SOP manual. It's a well-defined language that all employees can refer to when they describe their sensory perceptions.

Welcome to today's episode of We Taste Wine Differently. The podcast designed to help you, wine professionals connect with modern wine consumers through the power of sensory experiences. I'm your host Isabelle Lesschaeve a wine sensory scientist, educator, and testing coach.

Many people take my courses or hire me as a consultant to help them develop their wine description skills. They think they have a weak [00:01:00] nose because they can't put words on what they perceive when they smell of glass of wine. That's what we call the tip of the nose phenomenon. Like people you know smelling.

[00:01:10] Isabelle Lesschaeve: They know what they're smelling. They know what it reminds them of, but they can't find the word. The truth is that we all have poor sensory vocabulary if we don't really take action to develop it. It's like a foreign language. You don't speak it naturally. You have to learn practice, or you lose it. So our sensory language is poor because we really never learned to pay attention to it when growing up.

Early years education focuses on developing our language to describe what we see, what we touch, or what we hear. But taste and aroma, not really. I remember in my early years as a sensory scientist going to schools. And initiating kids to, the taste and [00:02:00] the smells.

We were hiding and you know, biting in a crisp or biting in an apple and the kids had to identify the products we were eating and define the sound that they were hearing.

So we don't really develop in those early years a language to describe those sensory perceptions. And it come, you know, later on when we have an interest in food and an interest in wine. So it's no wonder that most people feel unequipped when they start their career in the wine industry where. The product is in essence, a hedonic product.

It's made to please the senses and the mind, and some people might add the soul.

So the default for professionals in training is to learn the technical language associated with wine making, leading conversation about how the wine is made. For example, the tannins are too [00:03:00] dry or too green. It tastes like, it went through Malo malolactic fermentation for, the new people.

But the thing is, in trying to become too technical, the language that professionals or aspiring professionals are using is quite vague and confusing, even among experts. A lot of papers, showing that experts using technical terms like my favorite minerality, mean different things. So if you think about it, the purpose of language is to improve our communication.

For us to understand each other. It's really to improve the clarity, the fluency and the precision in communication. So we really want to understand each other when we talk about wine, what we sense, what we smell, what we taste, and what we feel. I remember a day when we're tasting a series of wine to select for an upcoming [00:04:00] brand and the wine maker was tasting, the marketing assistants with sensory folks were there as well, and uh, the marketing assistant said to describe one of the samples as Grapey, you should have looked the face of the winemaker. He became very upset trying to keep his composure and ask, what do you mean grapey?

The marketing assistant went on and said taste like grape. And of course the winemaker thought about, a fault or grapey means , the tannins are, were not ripe and it was green. So, really. We use words to communicate and what a waste of time if we don't have clear communication, spending this time, this valuable time arguing with each other about what we mean when we taste a wine.

So really what you need as a professional is an [00:05:00] internal sensory language., Like you have a code of conduct or an SOP manual. It's a well-defined language that all employees can refer to when they describe their sensory perceptions. and sensory training, specifically focused on wine, aroma, and taste and mouth feel is the most effective way to learn the language of wine,

Because learning to describe wine aromas is like learning a foreign language.

Sensory training specifically focused on wine, aroma, and the other flavor components taste and mouthfeel is the most effective way to learn the language of wine. And since aromas are the most difficult or challenging to describe, you need to have rules and definition to speak the language of wine, aroma, to speak it and to communicate about it .

Since it's a new concept for many, I will start by giving you more [00:06:00] examples on why owning and honing internal sensory language is critical for your organization. I will also give you six steps to establish a sensory language within your organization, and we'll wrap up with the many benefits that it can provide. So let's start with the big why. Why do you need internal sensory language? Again, it's to improve the communication internally. It's to be on the same page and avoid conflict when discussing wine attributes, like my grapey example, but also to communicate with your customers and your suppliers , in the same language so that they can, understand, your storytelling about the wine, but when they experience the wine as you describe it, they can relate to what you're saying. It's also an opportunity to educate your customers. In my previous life as a sensory scientist in a flavor [00:07:00] organization, we spend time teaching our flavor language to our customers so that they could speak the same language as us when they were briefing us for a new flavor. And, we could better understand their needs when we were discussing projects with them. It's also an opportunity to having an established sensory language. It's also a great asset to better understand your consumers in the tasting rooms, but you could have also separate, conversation with them where you let them discover your new, line of products and.

They will give you feedback on the wine. You want to explore with them a little bit about their perceptions, having a same language or helping them articulate what they perceive in your wine using your sensory language is definitely an a set to have in your toolbox, but most importantly.[00:08:00]

And I've seen that many times having a common sensory language avoids making million dollars of mistake. And let me share this story. I was working at the winery and we had just finished a large study on consumer preferences for Chardonnay wines. I had submitted my reports to the team and we were reviewing, the outcome, the results, and the, recommendation.

And one of the results was that consumers were segmented based on their. Liking for woody attributes, and I said attributes in plural because there were two types of woody attribute. One that was referring more to the woody vanilla character in a Chardonnay wine, and the other one was referring to the smoky character.[00:09:00]

And for some reason. One of the executive didn't read through the whole report, of course, and he took as an outcome that the consumers of this particular segment didn't like woody characters in the wine. Therefore he was about to call the wine making program and say, stop any wood treatment for this brand, which would have cost it, you know, millions of dollars.

Because that was not the recommendation. The recommendation was to avoid the smoky character in the brand and favor the expression of a vanilla attribute. So speaking the same language, making sure that we are using precise description of the wine can avoid miscommunication, but more importantly, miscommunication when we have to make [00:10:00] decision on the blend formulation or other strategic decisions.

So where do you start? Maybe you are telling yourself it sounds too complicated, and are you really giving up right now? No. No, it's not that complicated and I'm here to help you out. Again, learning a sensory language is like learning a new language. It requires to have a learning plan, and yes, some repetition.

You don't learn, Greek by just having one lesson. So let me give you six steps you can follow to develop your internal sensory language and for the sake of simplification or maybe because it's one of the most challenging wine component to describe.

Let's just focus on aroma. So what are those six steps to develop your internal aroma language? First, you'll need to craft the vision for this sensory [00:11:00] vocabulary. For this aroma vocabulary, you need to be clear with your team, again, communication about the goal. You know, what is the vision?

What do you want to achieve with this sensory language. It's about, making sure that we communicate better, that we understand each other, and that we can communicate u sing a consistent language, the qualities of our product to our customers and consumers. So if you have a small operation, make sure that you involve everyone in this sensory language development, making sure that everyone is on board and for larger operation, select a team with members of different departments, not solely the wine making team, but make sure that you have non-technical people as well involved so that the language really reflects how people are speaking and not only technical jargon. So now you are forming your team. Let's have the team start the work. The second step is [00:12:00] about defining the sensory space your company wants to evolve in.

So what are the styles of wine that you are producing? If only making red wines, there is no, no need to have a comprehensive aroma language that cover, some typical white wine aromas. You really want to focus on your product, what you are producing, and if useful, in certain cases, you know your competition, but you know your competition is within the same product category.

And maybe, if you are one of those producers with, many brands and many different varietal wines or stylistic wines, you want to focus on your biggest category to, to start with.

So that's the second step. Define the sensory space you want to focus and develop, your sensory language in. The third step is to research your tasting notes from previous vintages and [00:13:00] production batches. Don't just rely on the winemaker notes, but look at how the.

The wines were described in your marketing communication, and for each wine style, you want to compile a list of words, words describing aromas in the tasting notes. So you really want to have, for each one style, a list of words, a list of aroma descriptors.

And it's very likely that you will have a long list of words and you really want to make sure that you focus on the most important descriptors, but at least on the descriptors that come more often per wine style. So the fourth step is to assess to look at the list, reduce the list and focus on the attributes that come more often.

And then like any language, you need a sort of dictionary. The aroma language needs to come with some [00:14:00] definitions and some examples to illustrate what each word means and. If you, , Google, the Merriam Webster dictionary or whatever dictionary you are looking at online, you'll always have a definition, and an example of application.

And the same thing for our aroma language. You need to have the word, a definition that is not technical and a example. When you look at the list, can each term be very simply defined by a definition and a good definition, could be strawberry, the aroma of a strawberry jam, and you can have.

A brand of jam that you're referring to. A poor definition would be just the aroma of strawberry. Then you can, , open a can of worms and say, what type of strawberry is it? The fresh strawberry, the cooked [00:15:00] strawberry or the juice? So you really want to be as precise as possible if you can, and then, so that's the word definition.

Be precise. Don't just use, red fruits, be as precise as possible. And,

and then you need to give example. So one example could be, as I mentioned, before this is close to the Strawberry Jam of this brand that you can find in most of the stores or. If you don't have an example right away, you can check in your aroma kit If you have a strawberry aroma that really evokes, the aroma that you find in your wine.

Or you can do what we do in sensory science. Go and buy different strawberry jams and s mell them, taste them and decide which one is the good example for the aroma that you are defining. [00:16:00] And we were talking about strawberry. So let's select the one standard, the one example that works for your term.

So you do that for all the terms that you have selected, and that's why you don't want to have a big list. You want to focus on a particular wine category, a particular wine style, and have a group of maybe, five to eight aromas that define that wine style and. And then you work on those words, those definition and those examples, those aroma standards.

So now that you have this list that is most commonly used to describe this wine style, they are defined with a straightforward definition and example and, uh, and a physical standards. Now it's time to learn and practice. So it's the fifth step of my list is set up your sensory training. So it's very important to be clear of the intent of the training ; it's to speak the same language when [00:17:00] describing your wines internally or externally.

So I'm not talking about the storytelling of the history of the wine and how it is made, but when people want to talk about what they sense in the wine how do you describe it? So the first step in establishing your sensory training is to be clear on the intent, but the second step is to set up some familiarization sessions with the list of attributes, that you have selected in your aroma, language and their definition.

Then you organize, those sessions. So you have a conference room, or a, a room where people can gather, and you set up those very simple familiarization exercises with the physical standards. So you are preparing your standard. If we take the example of the strawberry Jam, you can put a bit of strawberry jam in a plastic cup or you can dilute the strawberry jam in a bit of [00:18:00] water and put that solution in a, mason jar and that you close and you have these standards prepared for people to go through the series of standards, smell the container, and. Memorize, the perception and the name associated to it. So it may take, you know, a few iterations for people to be comfortable recognizing the different aromas that you have selected.

But that's one thing being familiarized. Because people don't know what they don't know, you need that step of familiarization with the standards. But then the second step is t o test , the aroma identification to make sure that people have learned this, new language. So it's basically the same exercise where you present the aroma standards in different cups or mason jars, but this time there is no name on the jar only codes, for example, or, color dots.

If you want to differentiate the jars with [00:19:00] with a code. And, , people go through the jars and that task is simple. Smell the content of the jar and select on a list of attributes which aroma you are detecting. Through this exercise of testing your ability to identify, your staff will and yourself, you will realize your strengths in certain aromas and opportunities to continue your familiarization with the aromas you have difficulties to identify. and make it fun. You know, it's, it's about building, it's almost like a team building exercise. You love it or you hate team building exercise, but it's a way to set up a commonality among the staff and making sure that when we describe your product we use the same terminology, so make it fun. My experience when conducting this sensory training is that people love [00:20:00] to learn what they are capable of. You know, it can be even, a little competition among, staff members, but in a fun way. And you can give, incentives for people to participate, points if they have correct answers.

And you'll see the more you do it, the more people we start embracing this language and use it in the tastings that you organize internally and with any opportunity they have to in, to interact with external partners. And the last step is basically rinse and repeat.

Like a foreign language, you need repetition and you need to practice, otherwise you forget. So what I would suggest is, if. You use this training with new employees who haven't done it, before, once a week or twice a month is a good exercise for them. If people have done this exercise and it's, they just need a refresher, [00:21:00] having a sensory training like I just described, once a month, is a good pace.

But what is also important is to have your aroma language dictionary, meaning the definition and the standard to have this support anytime that you have thorough tasting of your wines to be conducted. Whether it's to present y our wines to a customer, whether it's an internal testing where you want to benchmark your brand with competitors.

When you start talking about what you experience is important to, again, adjust the language and making sure that we refer to the word definition or the physical definitions so that you can have. An enjoyable and fruitful conversation about what you experience with the wine and more importantly to make a decision.

So this is quite a straightforward process. You have to have a clear vision. Then a list of words to describe the [00:22:00] aromas that are typically present in your, wine style or the category of wines you are focusing on. Then you define each aroma attribute with a word definition and a physical standard. Then you organize the sensory training with your staff first, the familiarization, then a test to assess the learning. And the opportunity is to continue the training and then your rinse and repeat.

And if this process is a bit intimidating for you, feel free to schedule a 15 minute call with me and I will be happy to discuss your project.

Of course your sensory language will evolve. You may add terms, , in the future because you are, enlarging , the categories you investigate or, you might remove terms because you figure out that they don't apply anymore, or you find better physical standards to define each aroma.

This is an evolving language. And as new people come in they might, bring [00:23:00] a new perspective as well. And there will always be discussion on how to best describe new wine aromas because people have different sensitivities, but at least you will have a tool to make sure that you don't waste your time arguing with each other.

But you will use the tool to understand what the others are saying and they can understand what you are saying when you describe your perception. And like any operational change, you know, implementing a common sensory language requires vision and courage. So yes, it's different, but it'll help you manage those un fruitful discussions. And of course, never assume people understand what you mean in your wine tasting notes. If you listened to my interview with Dr. Hildegarde Heymann from UC Davis, a few episodes ago, she gave us a great example of, the importance of words having meaning. And she used the term gooseberry to describe Sauvignon Blanc and she said, well, [00:24:00] I'm a bit annoyed every time people are using gooseberry, because gooseberries are coming in many forms, shapes and sensory qualities.

You have Indian gooseberries and Chinese gooseberries or Cape Gooseberries or European gooseberries, and the Chinese gooseberries are kiwi. The Indian gooseberries usually eaten as a pickle. The European gooseberry is related to Cassis, and the Cape Gooseberry is related to tomatillo. So it's very important to be as specific as possible when you describe your wine aromatic perception.

So check out our conversation in episode eight of We Taste Wine Differently. W ords have meaning and we need to understand each other when conducting technical tasting, so let's review in more details the benefit of having a common sensory language. Okay. Employees first. you will have a faster onboarding of your new [00:25:00] employees, whether they are permanent or seasonal, they will be able to learn your language, speak about your products in a consistent way.

They might need to be knowledgeable about wine, the product, but they don't need to, learn by heart the WSET grid. They will just need to learn your wine aroma language, or wine sensory language. Having a common sensory language will enable your team members to describe their perceptions with more detail.

Avoiding technical jargon like, it tastes like Malo. It'll be more specific. Is it the buttery aroma or is it the mouth feel that makes you think about Malo lactic attributes,

having a sensory language common across your team, create an easy way to provide feedback that is, uh, more effective rather than using, you know, idiosyncratic comments that only you can understand [00:26:00] and having a common sensory language clarifies debates during blend formulation and quality control because to make sure that you produce the intended blend.

Again, it minimizes miscommunication at all level and we should never assume that we understand the meaning of the aroma words that other people are using or that they understand what you mean. So having definitions and references is the best way to overcome these challenges. And think about it, you can also have better communication with your suppliers.

If you have a flavor problem and are looking for remediation treatments, you can explain those situations in more details rather than sending, your wines over there so that they try to figure out what the problem is. You can describe as precisely as you can the issue and save time that way.

Or if you're looking to create a particular flavor profile with their technology, you can explain what [00:27:00] you are, looking for in specific aromatic term and give them example so that, they don't assume they understand what you mean, but they follow your lead. And communication goes both ways.

If suppliers, you know, come present a new technology and pretend that it changes the flavor profile of the wine in a certain way. You want to make sure that, uh, you understand the sensory benefits they are promoting. Having a common sensory language also enhance communication with your customers.

You know, this language allows you to go beyond the marketing tasting notes. You can describe the impact of unique wine making style or grapevine clone selections in terms that your customers will understand. It don't need to be expert or heavily technically trained to understand what you mean and.

One idea you may consider that we use a lot in flavor companies is to create [00:28:00] flavor kits to illustrate the flavor profile of your wines at, tasting events or, you know, when you host guests at your winery or when you travel t he roads to present your wines to your customers.

Having flavor kits is always a fun s experience for the participants. And if one day you have the need to conduct a more thorough and structured sensory evaluation of your wines, you will likely outsource a sensory research agency. You will use their sensory panel and rather than having them train their panel and generate a language, they can use your language, use your definition and reference standards.

So developing a common sensory language is definitely an asset, within your company, , within your technical operations, within your research team, or, with your external research partners, developing this sensory language with your marketing team or your marketing [00:29:00] agency or within your retail store.

That's really about investing in an asset that will improve clarity, fluency, and precision in your communication. And this language is not another technical jargon on the contrary, because it's defined by simple definitions that normal people can understand, non-technical people can understand. And it's defined also by physical standards that people can smell or taste, to understand the meaning of the words.

This is, a very accessible language and it, in fact, it's. Maybe the most consumer friendly language you can adopt for your internal, external communication about your wine's intrinsic qualities. And this is one of the first steps that you can take to become a more consumer centric organization.

And that's it for today's episode of We Taste Wine [00:30:00] Differently. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe, follow the show wherever you listen to podcast, and please leave a review to help others discover the podcast. If you want to learn more about how I can help you and your team implement a sensory driven tasting experience, schedule a 15 minute call to discuss your project.

[00:30:20] Isabelle Lesschaeve: I will be more than happy to help you out.

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